Friday

Star Wars and Lego are a successful partnership that brought the toy company back to life. Either when they announce new sets or when they discontinue old ones, toy stores and the market for used goods are shaken by a wave of consumers interested in buying Star Wars Lego collectables sets. 2010 has already seen those trends as Lego announced a couple of sets featuring the two movie trilogies, and also the TV series Star Wars Clone Wars. Later this year, Lego will start selling new sets to finish 2010 off with a golden plate. Here they are:

Imperial Star Destroyer (Set #8099)
In terms of size, you can compare this set with 2009's Millennium Falcon (Set #7778). This set was very tiny for Lego minifigures, and at the same time too big to be classified as a mini set, thus being named a Midi scale. If you are a true fan, you must remember the three previous releases of the Imperial Star Destroyer: 2002's Ultimate Collector version, 2004's mini version and 2006's minifigure scale model. This 423-piece set will hit the stores with a $39.99 suggested price tag. Young hands can hold it without any problems because this is a small and sturdy model. As a suggestion, this new Imperial Star Destroyer would make a great companion for the Millennium Falcon previously cited. But I must say I don't like this size set at all I want something minifigure scale and way too expensive.

At-At (Set #8129)
This is another fan favourite; the third Lego minifigure scale release, in fact. This will be set once again in the planet Hoth, which was featured on The Empire Strikes Back film. This version features a lot of figures: Han Solo, pilot Luke Skywalker (as a pilot), C3PO, an AT-AT Driver, a Roth rebel, two Snowtroopers, and General Veers.

Imperial Shuttle, Ultimate Collector Series (Set #10212)
Some fans were hoping that the previous set was going to be set in Endor. If you are one of those, you will soon forget about that once you see how stylish this new set is. It has 2500+ pieces and an amazing list of minifigures: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, a shuttle pilot, a stormtrooper and an Imperial Officer. From a first glance this is an impressive Lego set, where fans are likely to buy it out of passion, and forget about the price tag. The previous UCS Millenium Falcon had already combined minifigures with a UCS set, so this will likely hit the same buttons and be a sales success. A little expensive because I feel the minifigs aren't up to scratch.

The previous 2010 Lego releases have featured an interesting combination of sets targeting a wide variety of age groups, as well as caring for fans of the saga era. Minifigures have brought nice redesigns, cool new characters but also kept some old favorite ones. The three sets featured in this article are likely to keep the same balanced combination among all these factors, ensuring more success between the Star Wars franchise and the toy company.